Punching device



June 20, 1961 H. H. GLATTLI PUNCHING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 12, 1958 INVENTOR.

HANS H. GLATTLI AGENT June 20, 1961 H. H. GLATTLI PUNCHING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 12, 1958 Fig. 3b

June 20, 1961 Filed Dec. 12, 1958 Fig .4

H. H. GLATTLI PUNCHING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent ()fice 2,989,228 Patented June 20, 1961 2,989,228 PUNCHING DEVICE Hans H. Glattli, Kusnacht, Switzerland, assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York,

N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 12,1958, Ser. No. 779,981 Claims priority, application Switzerland Dec. 31, 1957 9 Claims. (Cl. 234- 50) This invention relates to perforating apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for the selective perforation of holes in a machine control record.

Modern computers, tabulating machines and other office machines employ punched cards as information carrying means. Either manually operated or automatically controlled punching machines are employed for the punching of cards. Automatic punching machines are especially used for reproducing of punched cards and for recording the intermediate or final results of tabulating machines or of computers.

The automatic punching machines are capable of punching approximately 150 cards a minute. This low working efliciency proves to be very disadvantageous, especially when the punching device is coupled to a tabulating machine or to a computer, because due to the low speed of the punching device it is not possible to run these machines with optimum speed.

In a prior art punching device the card is brought by feed rollers into the range of the punches and the die. The feed rollers are driven intermittently by e.g. a Geneva drive, so that the card can be punched line by line when at rest. The necessity to keep the card twelve times at rest, once for every punching operation, and then to accelerate it again makes it understandable that it is hardly possible to process more than 150 cards per minute. As a fact, when the device is running at such a speed, it is already under heavy load, because the relatively large and variably accelerated masses put heavy pressures on the bearings, and they cause in addition to that strong vibrations.

In another known punching device, the cards are fed with constant velocity. This device consists of means for the continuous feeding of cards, a stationary die, a number of hook-shaped punches corresponding to the holes in the die, and means for moving these punches back and forth. A continuous feeding of cards is possible because the hook-shaped punch first punches on the forward motion one part of the hole and then, on the backward motion, the punch, by means of its hookshaped portion, completes the punching of the hole. But it was found, that also such a device does not allow a substantial increase of the card handling capacity.

Another known punching device comprises a rotating cylinder formed as a die and cooperating with a number of gears acting as punches. In order to punch a hole into the card such a punch gear has to be pressed towards the die in the appropriate moment. It is easy to see that in order not to get jammed, the tooth of the punch gear can engage only for a short time into the hole of the die.

The present invention does not have the disadvantages of the punching devices described before. The device according to the invention first of all has a substantially higher card handling capacity, and it operates without vibrations. The device comprises two cylinders adapted to rotate with the same peripheral speed and which are provided with ducts opening at the cylindrical surface and serving as guides for the punches which they contain, as well as a die.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a record perforating apparatus having a pair of die members disposed on opposite sides of the record material vto be perforated, a punch disposed in each of the said die members, and means for successively driving each of said punch members through the record material to effect the perforation thereof in two successive steps.

A further object of this invention is to provide a perforating apparatus in accordance with the foregoing object in which the record material is uninterruptedly fed between the opposing die members which are movably mounted so as to move through arcuate paths with a tangential velocity equal to the velocity of the record ma terial, the arcuate paths being tangentially disposed to the record material.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a record perforating apparatus having two contra-rotating drums disposed in tangential relationship on parallel axes and adapted to receive the record material to be perforated therebetween, each of the drums having an identical plurality of radially extending holes similarly arrayed so that corresponding holes in the two drums will be successively aligned at the point of tangency of the drums during rotation thereof, each of the holes having punches slideably disposed therein, the apparatus further having punch actuating means internal of the drums for selectively actuating desired corresponding ones of said punches in alternate succession whereby the record material is punched by punches from each of the two drums operating seriately.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the punching device.

FIG. 2 is a section through a pair of cylinders.

FIGS. 3:: and 3b illustrate the punching operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an operating cycle of the device.

The device shown in FIG. 1 is a part of a punching machine, which is designed so as to punch holes in determined positions of the cards, whereby this punching operation is controlled by internal control pulses, or by control pulses coming from another machine.

The device is driven by a gear wheel 1, which in turn is driven by driving means not shown in the drawing. The gear wheel 1 is fixed to the gear wheel 2 and the cylinder 3. The gear 2 meshes with the gear wheel 4, which is fixed to the cylinder 5. The toothed belt 7 running over gear wheels 1 and 6 meshes also with the gear wheel 8. This gear is fixed to the shaft 9, which carries two gear wheels 10' and 11. These latter serve to drive the conveyor belt 12.

The gear 6 is mounted on the shaft 14, which also carries two brush contacts 15 and 16, which are angularly" displaced from each other by an angle a. These brush. contacts slide over the segments SU and SL, respectively. The brush contact 15 is electrically connected to the spring 21 by means of a collector ring 22. Likewise the brush contact 16 is electrically connected to the spring 23 by means of a collector ring 24. A conductor is leading from the spring 21 to the relay 27, which is in the circuit of a punch magnet 26 located in the cylinder 5. A conductor is also leading from the spring 23 to the relay 25, which is in the circuit of a punch magnet 28 located in the cylinder 3. The segments SU -SU areelectrically connected to corresponding condensers CU CU Also the segments SL SL are connected to condensers CL CL The condensers CU -CU as well as the condensers CL -CL are connected to conductors L -L by the intermediary of rectifiers RU RU and RL -RL respectively. 7

In principle, it would be possible to omit thisstora ge device. However, the application of storage means has the advantage, that the pulses coming from another ma chine do not have to be in synchronism with the punch operation.

In FIG. 2 a section through the cylinders 3 and 5 of FIG. 1 is shown. column these cylinders have a number of punch guides 30. Preferably, the number of punch guides is such, that it differs from' the integer multiple of periods into which the machine cycle is divided. In this manner provision is made that not always the same punches will be used for punching the same lines of the cards, and the wear of the punches will be uniform.

Only four of the punches mounted in the guides 30 can be seen; namely, the punches 31, 32, 33 and 34. Each of the punches has a cutaway edge 35 and is provided with a shaft 36 having a shoulder 37. A spring 38 is acting on this shoulder. An abutment 39 prevents the punch from falling out. For every card column there is required only one operating means in each cylinder. In the present case, magnets 26 and 28, respectively, are used as operating means. It is also possible, instead of magnets, to employ mechanical, pneumatical or hydrau lical means.

The invention is not limited to the punching of a normed card having twelve lines and eighty columns. In the contrary, it may be employed for all kinds of punch cards and punch tapes. However, for the sake of simplicity and illustration, the embodiment of the invention shown is based on the normed punch card which has twelve lines. Therefore, the commutators would require twelve segments, i.e. one segment for every line of the punch card. But, because the cards cannot follow immediately each other--there has to be a certain distance from card to cardthe machine cycle is divided into fourteen periods. The commutator therefore has also to be divided into fourteen segments. Of these, only 12 have to be provided with electrical contacts.

The device operates as follows:

When the machine is running, the gear 1 and the cylinder 3 rotate in the direction indicated. The cylinder 5 which is driven by the gear 2 over the gear 4 rotates in opposite direction with respect to the cylinder 3.

The conveyor belt 12 is driven by the gear 1 over the chain belt 7, the gear 8 and the two gears 10 and 11 which are meshing with the teeth of the conveyor belt 12. The gear 1 drives the shaft 14 over the chain belt 7 and the gear 5. A rotation of 360 of the shaft 14 corresponds to one machine cycle.

If, e.g. an impulse is coming over the conductor L the condenser CU will be charged over the rectifier RU and the condenser CL, will be charged over the rectifier RL When now the brush contact 16 wipes over the segment SL of the commutator 20, the condenser GL is discharged over the segment SL the brush contact 16, the collector ring 24, the spring 23 and operates the relay 25. This relay 25 closes the circuit of the electromagnet 28. This magnet (FIG. 2) moves the punch 32 upward, so that it punches, together with the cylinder 5 which acts as a die, one-half of a hole, as it is shown in FIG. 3a. The operation of the punch 32 occurs with advantage at the time when the angle between the punch axis and the plane drawn through both axes of the cylinders is about 3. The punch has to be withdrawn before said angle decreases to 0. Otherwise the die and the punch could be damaged.

Now, with the parts continuing to rotate, the brush contact wipes over the segment SU the condenser CU is discharged over the segment SU the brush contact 15, the slip ring 22, the spring 21, and operates the relay 27. This relay closes the circuit of the electromagnet 26. This magnet operates the punch 31 which now is transferred into the position in which is situated the punch 33 shown in FIG. 2. The magnet 26 presses the punch downward, so that, together with the cylinder 3 which acts as a die, the punch completes" cutting of the It can be seen, that for each card I 4 hole which has already before been punched in part. This is shown in FIG. 3b.

For the sake of better illustration, the strokes of the punches as represented in FIG. 2 are shown much greater than they are in reality.

FIG. 2 shows by way of'example the case where two consecutive holes are punched into the card, e.g. on the lines three and four of the card. A sequence diagram in FIG. 4 illustrates this sequence of punching operations. The heavy lines show which segments SL or SU of the commutators 20 and 19 are connected to charged condensers. It can be seen that the punch 32 is controlled by the segment SL at the beginning of the third period and is restored to the initial position before this period is over. A moment earlier the segment SU controls the punch 31, which completes the punching of the hole in line three of the card. At the beginning of the fourth period the punch 34 is already operated, controlled by the segment SL and starts to punch a hole into line four of the card. This hole is then completed by the punch 33 which is controlled by the segment SU While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A record material perforating apparatus comprising, first and second die members having an identical plurality of die holes therein disposed in corresponding positions, means for mounting and moving said die members into contiguous relationship wherein the die holes in said first die member are successively aligned with the corresponding die holes in said second die member with no relative velocity therebetween, means for feeding the record material between said die members, individual punches slideably disposed in each of said die holes, and means for successively moving a punch in said first die member into punching coaction with the corresponding die hole in said second member and the corresponding punch in said second member into punching coaction with the corresponding die hole in said first die member, whereby the record material is perforated from opposite directions by the successive operation of the corresponding punches.

2. A record material perforating apparatus comprising a pair of die members disposed on opposite sides of the record material, a punch disposed in each of said die members, and means for successively driving each of said punches through the record material to effect the perforation of a single hole therein in two successive steps.

3. The perforating apparatus of claim 2 wherein the said record material is uninterruptedly fed between the die members, and the die members are movably mounted so as to move through arcuate paths with a tangential velocity equal to the velocity of the record material, the arcuate paths being tangentially disposed to the record material.

4. A record material perforating apparatus comprising a pair of cylindrical die members mounted for contrarotation at equal annular velocities on parallel axes so spaced that the cylinders are tangent to one another, means for feeding the record material between said die members at a constant velocity equal to the tangential velocity of the die members, the said die members each having a like plurality of radially-extending die holes therein disposed so that the corresponding holes in the two die members will be successively aligned at the tangency of the two members during rotation thereof, individual punches slideably disposed in each of said die holes, and means for selectively actuating said punches, said means being adapted to actuate corresponding punches in the two die members in alternate succession whereby the record material is perforated in two successive steps by two corresponding punches operated from opposite sides of the record material.

5. The record perforating apparatus of claim 4 wherein the cylindrical die members contain a number of rows of die holes parallel the elements of the cylinder equal to an integer multiple of the number of rows of hole positions in the record plus n, where n is any integer other than the number of rows in the record, whereby a different row of punches is associated with the same record row in successive operating cycles so as to distribute wear on the punches.

6. The record perforating apparatus of claim 4 wherein the punches in one of said die members have the trailing edges thereof cutaway to provide clearance in the dies, and the punches in the other of said die members have the leading edges thereof cutaway, the punches having the cutaway trailing edges being first operated as the punches approach the point of tangency of the cylinders, and the punches having the cutaway leading edges being subsequently operated as the punches leave the point of tangency whereby jamming of the punches in the die is obviated.

7. A record material perforating apparatus comprising first and second hollow cylindrical die members having a like plurality of radially extending die holes therein arranged in an identical pattern of columns and rows, means mounting said die members in tangential relationship, means cfor feeding the record material at a predetermined uniform velocity between said die members and for rotating said die members so as to have a tangential velocity equal to said uniform velocity, punches slideably disposed in said die members and normally biased toward the center of said die members so that the outermost ends of the punches normally lie within the cylindrical surface of the die, punch actuating means for each column of punches disposed internally of each of said die members, and means for selectively and successively operating said punch actuating means to move a desired punch radially outward from one of said die members through said record material into a registered die hole in the other of said die members, and thereafter to move the punch occupying the just employed die hole in the second die member radially outward through the record material into the registered die hole containing the first operated punch to thereby eflect the complete perforation of the record material by two successively operated punches disposed on opposite sides of the material while it is in uninterrupted flight.

S. The perforating apparatus of claim 7 wherein said punch actuating means comprises a plurality of electromagnets disposed in two rows one row each being disposed internally of each cylindrical die member parallel to the axes thereof, the said rows being respectively disposed before and after said tangency of the two cylindrical die members, whereby an electromagnet in the before-disposed row actuates said first operated punch and an electromagnet in said after-disposed row actuates said second operated punch.

9. The perforating apparatus of claim 8 wherein the punches coacting with said row of electromagnets which is disposed before said tangency have an obliquely cutaway trailing edge, and the punches coacting with said row of electromagnets which is disposed after said tangency have an obliquely cutaway leading edge, whereby when those punches having the cutaway trailing edge are operated so they approach the tangency and the punches having the cutaway leading edge are operated as they recede from the tangency clearance is obtained between the punches and the mating opposed die holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,508,758 Hollerith May 23, 1950 2,761,513 Stram Sept. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 568,975 Germany Ian. 26, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE CORRECTION Patent No. 2,989,228 June 20, 1961 Hans Glattli It is-hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent. should read as corrected below.

Column 4, line 64, for annular read angular Signed and sealed this 14th day of November 19610 (SEAL) Attest: I

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer 4 Commissioner of Patents USCOMM-DC 

